Wil County Executive Jennifer Burtino-Tarrant on Saturday veto a county board proposal to prevent the expansion of the 143rd Street via Homer Glenn, stating that he had accidentally signed it.
To prevent the expansion project employed by the Wil County Board, the Wilt County Board came to veto two days after 12-9 voting and saw the division of the county to widen the road to three lanes instead of five.
For several months, Homer Glenn and Homer Township residents and officials asked the county to stop the $ 60 million project, which would widen the 3-mile section of the 143rd Street from State Street/Lamont Road to Bell Road to Bell Road to five lanes. The road is now a lane in each direction.
Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant, executive of Wil County Board, during Wilt County Board Meeting 2023. (Antonio Perez/ Chicago Tribune)
Opponents of the 143rd Street Examination celebrated on Friday that the widening project was stopped and a signed copy of Sankalp was posted on social media.
Burtino-Tarrant responded with a statement on Saturday, stating that he signed a resolution in the error and did not authorize it to go to the clerk’s office. He said that he never intended to return a signed resolution to the county board, but used his veto power.
The village of Homer Glenn, which opposes expansion, can look into legal measures, so the project will not continue, the mayor Christina Neitezke-Troik said.
Neetzke-Troik said that if the veto is allowed to stand, it would ask the Homer Glenn Village Board to register the prohibition as the executive office already signed and filed the county board resolution that shuts down the project. Neetzke-Troik said that it would continue to fight for the desire to maintain the road for the will of the residents.
The resolution stopping the expansion project fails to address traffic demands and public safety and goes against the years of county board action to widen the 143rd Street, Burtino-Tarrant said in its veto message.
Early engineering began in 2009 to widen the road, and public hearing took place in 2014, 2018 and 2019.
Burtino-Tarrant said that the County Board has repeatedly provided a clear direction to the Will County Division of Transportation to expand the 143rd Street section and unanimously supported it on 10 different occasions since 2009.
“Time and time again, elected representatives who serve in the county board, including the 143rd Street representing communities, have voted for the project,” he said. “After the unanimous direction of our elected legislative body, Wil County has placed a consistent place since 2009: that the existing two-lane road is a threat to the public, disrupts the flow of traffic, and prevents the safe route of the residents in the entire county.”
Burtino-Tarrant stated that County has already spent $ 6.2 million on the project, with engineering and design costs and utilities to move, utilities have been transferred to create a safe road route.
Burtino-Tarrant said, “Although many board members expressed confidence that County should ‘cut our deficit’ on this project after a continuous year, I do not believe that individual board members should come up with a price tag of $ 6.2 million to taxpayers.”
County has also received a federal grant of $ 7 million to apply in the project as per the plan.
Burtino-Tarrant said that Thursday’s county board resolution does not resolve security and traffic challenges. It also contradicts a separate resolution approved on Thursday that advocates the use of quick-tech proceedings in the legislative agenda of the board.
The board approved Quick Tech Power in November and is negotiating for 116 parcels required to complete widening. County Transport Director Jeff Ronaldson said that if the road was widened to three lanes, the same amount of land would be required.
The business manager of the district told the county officials in December that the bus drop off and pickup in the reed school will be affected. (Michelle Mulins/Daily Southtown)
Some Homar Glenn residents believe that widening the road up to five lanes will create more crowds, traffic, noise and semi-trucks. The project will take some parts of their land and will cause difficulties while trying to leave their neighborhood. An official of the Reed Elementary School on 143D Street said that the expansion will be problematic for buses and parents and traveling to parents.
County Board Chairman Judy Ogla, a Republican, Moni, released a news release on Friday, stating that after hearing for hours of public testimony, it was clear that the project needs to be stopped, and people’s voices were not ignored.
Board Republican leader Steve Balich, who includes the 143rd Street Project in the district, said he feels that the resolution signed on Friday should stand up. He said that the board would have a lot of questions about the process and how the mistakes were made, and it is possible that it will end in the court.
He said that he believes that widening is now limited, and it can be to handle lawyers.
Balich said, “How many people have made a mistake on the biggest issue of the county.” “I don’t know how it will play. It is not over. The thick woman has not sung yet.”
Mitchell Mulins is a freelance reporter for Daily Southtown.